In a culture that equates youth with beauty, aging (as in, becoming officially old and wrinkled) doesn’t offer too many privileges. But one thing that’s sort of great is that as you age, a certain level of eccentricity becomes almost expected of you. The giant handbags, fussy shoes, and nutty jewelry that would mark a younger woman as Sort of Weird (in a good way, of course) seem perfectly natural—even adorable—on a woman of a certain age. Becoming An Old is a blank check to try out all the batty combinations that younger women are often shy to wear. And there are plenty of older women out there who are exploiting that to the fullest: embracing their eccentricity, subverting the belief that older women should quietly fade away, being loud and dressing as weird as they damn well please.

Blogs that feature stylish older ladies, like Advanced Style, have made it easier than ever to be inspired by the geriatric set. These women are a daily reminder that old is beautiful—and even better, that it’s everyone’s right to define beauty for themselves. Here we pay tribute to my favorite of all the old-lady icons, the fabulous, irreverent Iris Apfel. The interior designer, style icon, and self-described “geriatric starlet” has carved out her own sartorial place in the world. Getting old isn’t for the faint of heart, as they say. So let’s sit at the feet of this well-heeled, idiosyncratic old broad and see what she has to teach us about being fearlessly ourselves, shall we?

Any woman who describes her style as getting “better with age, like an old cheese” gets an A+ in my book. Apfel is legendary for mixing haute couture and vintage clothes with chunky costume jewelry and her giant round Mr. Owl specs. And this woman is as witty as her clothes. I recently saw her speak at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with a certain editor-in-chief of mine, and Iris had the audience rolling with lines like “If you put something on and it doesn’t look good, the fashion police aren’t going to come and take you away. And if they do, you might have some fun in jail.” Can someone make this lady my guardian grandma already?

One of the things I love most about Iris’s style is her ability to look eccentric, fascinating, and colorful, and mix about 100 different kinds of prints, without ever looking anything less than perfectly elegant. This takes an eye. She also plays with proportion in this brilliant way that looks classic instead of crazy. Like tell me you wouldn’t wear this outfit right this instant:

Even though Iris herself is what they used to call monied (I saw her name on a plaque at the Met, I’m guessing those don’t come cheap), she’s a sensible lady who revels in cheap fashion, and understands that you don’t need money to dress well. She’s a dedicated thrift-store shopper (like, actual Salvation Army thrift stores), she refuses to pay more than $15 for a pair of jeans, and although she has a collection of expensive jewelry, she also loves to wear necklaces made out of weird plastic toys and old candy wrappers. Sadly, I could not find a pic of the candy wrapper necklace, but the deer antlers are pretty wacky too:

As Iris puts it, “Price has nothing to do with style. Sometimes the least expensive things are the most amusing and witty, and if you put them together with things you have in your wardrobe, you get a smashing new look.”

1. More is more. If you like something, like plastic bangle bracelets or beaded necklaces, wear 20 of them. Every vintage store has plastic bangles at the jewelry counter for a quarter or two. Or go to street sellers who sell what they call “ethnic” jewelry (you know, the same ones selling Genuine Chanel Purses and wafting Nag Champa onto the street) and pick up some thick bejeweled cuffs. See how many you can stack on one arm. Mixing different colors and thicknesses is good.

If you get really into this look, you can start splurging on some vintage bracelets made out of Lucite (a clear acrylic) or Bakelite (an early plastic used in jewelry in the ’20s and ’30s that people go nuts collecting). You can find a dealer at many antiques stores that specializes in them. Here in New York, there’s a store called This ’n’ That Collectibles that is literally STUFFED with insane vintage jewelry. I want to shop it with Iris like it’s a candy store. There’s also good ol’ Etsy, which is also a great source for my latest obsession: LUCITE BUG JEWELRY! It was trendy in the ’20s and ’30s, and I think it is the absolute height of badassery to have little iridescent beetles and long-limbed spiders marching around your arm. Like how incredible would these look stacked up your arm?

2. Play with proportions. Wear a little cropped sweater with a floor-sweeping skirt. Your specs can cover half your face if you want (have prescription lenses put in a big pair of ’70s sunglasses). If you like necklaces, wear the biggest or the longest ones you can find. If you can’t find ones you like, make your own. With some dental floss, big wood beads and a lobster clasp from the craft store, you can slap together this look in no time:

3. Seriously, screw $200 jeans. The only way I’d buy $200 jeans is if they came with a $300 bill in the pocket. My favorite jeans are thrifted high-waisted Levi’s, and some $20 bootcut cheapies I got at Uniqlo. If you’re looking for skinnies, Forever 21’s $10 jeans are my go-to. They last forever and go up to size XL. You don’t need to spend much more than your allowance to find awesome jeans, Iris and I swear to you!

4. A sense of humor is the best accessory. Iris once described herself as “very much alive and just walking around to save on funeral expenses.” When asked what she loves about her equally adorable husband, she said, “he was cool, he was cuddly, and he cooked Chinese, so I figured I couldn’t do any better.” Like style, humor is one of the best defenses against invisibility. And, you know, if you don’t want to get all politicky about it, they’re both just fun too. Whether it’s how she gets dressed in the morning or how she describes herself, Iris is always spirited, always irreverent, and she just keeps saying her piece and defining herself, for her own sake, every day. And she is honestly one of my heroes for that.

If you want more Iris, this is the BEST INTERVIEW with her. There’s also a documentary coming out about her, by Albert Maysles (who knows an eccentric style icon when he sees one), and you can watch the promo for that at Advanced Style. Trust me, this is a fascinating, hilarious, firecracker of a lady that you will want to spend lots of time with. Be my fairy grandma, Iris? ♦

44 Comments

missblackSeptember 13th, 20123:14 PM

oh God I CANNOT WAIT to be a Crazy Old Lady. I’ve been stocking up ideas forever, like how I’m going to have a million rocking chairs in my house and wear crazy clothes and have long white witch hair and frighten all of the little children that I can and I just….I can’t wait.
I will definitely be taking ideas from Iris Apfel, haha.

I love Advanced Style, so this post I loved as well! It’s makes me feel so delighted when a see an “older” woman embracing her style. Just because your older doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice style! I commend Iris for pouring her heart into her wardrobe, and not caring what others think. I’ve recently been trying to do that for myself.http://chicagolooks.blogspot.com/2012/09/caroline.html
(as seen here haha, I was sick that day so that’s why I look like a raccoon with a cold)
this goes for anyone who embraces their style, not just older folks: you rule.
~Caroline~

Oh. My. Gosh. I’ve always been certain that life after youth isn’t worth living (to the extent that my goal in life is to stay in full time education for as long as possible). But this SERIOUSLY making me want to be old. She’s like… amazing.

I love Rookie, and I love Iris Apfel, but whenever anyone talks about fast fashion or Forever 21 or $30 jeans I just think about the non-monetary cost of those clothes. Like the human rights violations at sweatshops run by Target (http://www.ecouterre.com/walmart-target-hanes-macys-linked-to-jordan-rape-factory/). Or the amount of water that goes into making the cotton for those cheap dungarees. Or the waste that comes from buying cheap clothes made from polyester, which doesn’t biodegrade.

It’s a tough issue, and the fact that most green living is so expensive makes it even harder. One of the best things we all can do, even on a budget, is to buy used — you can get $30 or under jeans on Etsy or at your local charity thrift shop. Fashion can be fun, and I fear that by pointing out the ethics inherent in fast fashion I’m being a buzzkill. But being aware of these things and making your own clothes or buying used can help make a small dent in the problems in fast fashion.

(I’m writing this after taking some antihistimines, so I hope I’m not coming off as incoherent…)

Nah, you’re not being a buzzkill (or not any more than we are all buzzkills at Rookie!). We take those issues really seriously and have talked about them here and will continue to. But we also always keep in mind that our readers don’t have disposable incomes and that it is disrespectful to them to tell them to just buy really expensive shit if they want to be “good people.” You know? I don’t think we’ll ever get the balance exactly right — in fact we don’t “balance” so much as zig-zag wildly between those two poles. So, thanks for providing some tiny bit of balance.

I hear you, which is why I mentioned thrift shopping. I’m sure Iris would approve of $15 or under used jeans at your friendly neighborhood Goodwill. :P I just went back and checked that I specifically mentioned thrift shopping in my response…and I did! Twice, even. Not everyone has the budget for an all-Feral Childe wardrobe (speaking from personal experience here), and buying from your local thrift is respectful to readers on a budget, respectful to the Goodwill, and respectful to the earth. Everyone wins.

I love Iris Apfel! A woman on the bus yesterday was totally the dark-haired version of Iris Apfel. No joke! She was wearing a gigantic plastic chain necklace and had tulle and chiffon practically dripping off her shoulders! I just thought: now there’s a woman!

also I follow advanced style! some of those people are really cool and this is a nice article! I also love the backdrop today which is from the Alexander McQueen for Givenchy couture “eclect dissect” collection. the idea was a mad scientist who cut up a bunch of different woman and then put them back together mixed up! It’s a beautiful collection! I just wanted to boast all this information that i know from memory cuz i’m obsessed with Lee!

She is one fabulous lady – I especially like the picture of her from the Grazia Daily. I hope to be as great when i’m older, but I’m held back by the Coco Chanel “take one thing off before you leave the house” mindset.

asdfhjkl;hk;!!! I HAVE FOUND MY GRANDMAS LONG LOST SISTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I SWEAR THEY COULD BE BEST FRIENDS!!
I IMAGINE THEM NOW….
sitting in a cafe on indian pillows, swapping bangles and drinking exotic teas……

I think Iris has really great, original person style, which is why I was so dissapointed to read these body-shaming comments by her:

“Now when I walk down Fifth Avenue in the summertime I just want to throw up. It seems that the fatter and uglier people are, the fewer clothes they wear. The shorts and flip-flops and tight jeans on butts that go from here to Poughkeepsie.’

She shudders. ‘I always say they should put people in jail for wearing clothes like that. Especially stretch jeans over size 10 [a UK size 14] – they should be outlawed. Ten years ago people were starting to look like slobs in New York, now it’s an epidemic.”

Yoo-hoo! August’s theme is GIVE AND TAKE, and we’d like to take into consideration whatever submissions you have to give about that! (Even/especially if they’re as cheesy as we just were.) Send pitches to submission@rookiemag.com. ✴

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